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Friday, June 5, 2009

Victor Jara: Chile Continues Its Search For Truth And Justice. When Will Ours Begin?

(From The Latin-American Herald Tribune):

Chile Exhumes Singer Victor Jara, Slain Under Pinochet

"SANTIAGO – Chilean police and medical examiners on Thursday exhumed the body of singer-songwriter Victor Jara, who was killed just days after the September 1973 coup led by Gen. Augusto Pinochet. The procedure, ordered by Judge Juan Eduardo Fuentes, who is heading the probe of Jara’s death, could clarify key aspects of the case and it is hoped it will serve to corroborate or refute the declaration of army veteran Jose Adolfo Paredes Marquez, the only person ever arrested for the crime."

"Paredes, 54, confessed to being one of the soldiers who on several occasions shot the popular singer, but later he retracted his statements, said he was innocent of the crime and said that Jara was murdered by another officer with a single shot to the chest. This version differs from the circumstances of Jara’s death, as determined by coroners, who found that the singer was tortured and shot 44 times all over his body."

".... Fuentes has already charged several people in connection with the slaying of Jara, who was a prominent supporter of the Socialist government toppled by Pinochet. Among the defendants is retired army Col. Mario Manriquez Bravo, who commanded the detention and torture camp set up at Santiago’s Chile stadium in the wake of the putsch, the site where Jara was killed. Jara’s murder became a symbol of the atrocities committed by the 1973-1990 military regime, which is blamed for more than 3,000 deaths. Chile stadium was renamed for Victor Jara in 2003."

It tells the story of a young girl in Chile named Amanda who used to go every day to the factory where her sweetheart, Manuel worked, to see him for just five minutes on his break. Somebody, the narrator telling the story, talks about seeing Amanda every day running up the wet streets to the factory, the rain in her hair and a big smile on her face, so she could see her sweetheart for those five minutes until the factory siren went off, and Manuel had to go back to work. One day when she went to the factory, Manuel as well as many of the other young men had left, gone to the mountains to fight against the repressive government. But they were all slaughtered. So when the factory siren sounded after that, many of the young men never returned -- including Manuel.